Inspired by the Bocce post and the latest poll, I'm wondering how many people let dogs on the boat and if anyone has ever had any problems with dogs on the boat (messes, scratching apholstery, etc.). My friends have dogs and I've never let them on the boat but now I'm wondering if its not such a bad idea.

My dog gets hair everywhere on the boat, but she loves going out so I'm OK with it. When she's out with me I put towels down on the seats so she doesn't puncture them with her nails and it seems to work fine. It's a choice you make when you get a dog. Your house, cars, boats and clothes wont ever be hair free again.

I never really see much of a problem with my dog's nails...he seems to use his pads more for grip on the vinyl anyway. As for hair and messes though, he's a Husky, so we keep him shaved, and he's only gone in the boat once, and it was mostly my fault (was too busy untying a rope from the prop to notice he was whining).

I got two that go with us...A white pom and a brindel Cane Corso..Like mentioned above they are part of the fam...They get so excited when they see us packing up the boat and loading up the truck...Can't say no to that...

I have a Boxer and I take him in the boat quite a bit. If I have a ton of people he stays home. I have never had a problem with his nails on the vinyl He is quite active and his nails are very short. Its not like he is running around or anything. There is some hair in the boat but he does not shed that much. He is good for extra ballast to.

Before I had a dog, I thought "No way I will ever bring a dog on the boat, I am way too anal." However, we always bring our lab with us and really no problems yet. Yes, there's a lot more hair than usual, but you just gotta clean it up. So far, no problems AT ALL with punctures or even scratches to the vinyl, and he moves around the boat quite a bit (mostly trying to bite the water haha). When he was a puppy, he lost his bladder a couple times, but it's really not that big of a deal. Just soak it up the best you can, rinse it down with a bunch of water, and let the sun dry the floor up.

He has also dropped a dookie before, but thank god it was on the swimstep. It was pretty funny.

I have no problem with dogs on the boat. Our crew now has 2 dogs, and I suspect they will both be on the boat at various times. I would not leave the kids on shore, nor the dogs. You have to train them a bit, just like kids and adults, on how to not destroy the boat. Heck, I have done more damage to the seats then the dogs have. I have a good shop vac for the hair.

since they are not your dogs, you need to be able to trust your friends to take care of any issues. are you able to do that? are your friends going to be helping you vacuum up the hair, and are they prepared to pay for any damage? (torn vinyl) I think the decision is almost a no brainer for dog owners, but if you are not a dog owner yourself, you need to make sure the actual owners are responsible.

Thomas: Very true. Most of these responses (including mine) were from dog owners bringing their OWN dogs on their boats. I know I would definitely think twice about a friend bringing some random dog on board. At the least, I would expect the person to take care of business should anything happen.

Yes, dog hair gets everywhere. It amazes me when I take my seat cushions out and find it in places they have never been. But, that's what they make shop vacs for. And, in all my years of daily dogs in the boat I have never had one put a nail throught the upholstery or scratch it. For me, I can't imagine not having Bocce and Roxy on the boat. And, if any of our friends have dogs they always bring them, and we love it. But, I am a huge animal person, and for me it makes the day on the boat a lot more fun.

But, I would never take Bocce on a boat where I knew there weren't going to be other dogs or that they weren't 100% fine with it. Luckily all the guys I ride with have dogs and take them on the their boats.

My wife will bring ours everytime she comes with me. We have a Yorkie and since they don't shed I don't have the hair problem. The only thing I really worry about is her falling out of the boat especially while underway. Small dog, big wakes/waves, no good.

Not really. He can do it, but he swims like an idiot. He fell in once while we were idling and I stopped the boat and he swam to the platform and got back on it himself. He used those long ass legs to pull himself back up. He mostly just chills in the boat if it is moving fast. He will get on the sundeck while we are idling through the canals.

I would be curious how many people allow OTHER people's dogs on the boat, esp. if you don't know the dog/person. Example, I had two girls coming out one day and one girl asked me if the other girl could bring her dog. I didn't really know how to respond (they were super hot strippers) so I said "if you would let the dog in your car, he can come on my boat." Girl left the dog home. I'm sure it's diff with your own dogs, like kids.

My dog is all over the boat, fur totally embedded into the carpet. Totally worth it. Funny story, a few years ago, I had a clogged fuel line. When the mechanic cleared it out, the screen was caked with dog hair. How it got in the fuel line I have no idea. Now I'm more careful about keeping the caps on my gas cans and that's about it. Just make sure your dog gets lots of exercise pounding the pavement and the nails will stay nice and short and you shouldn't have to worry about vinyl. Carpets can be cleaned so who gives a **** about that issue? He's contributes more to cleanliness by licking up spilled beers so he more than earns his keep in my book.

I had a real issue with dogs on my boat last summer. It really made me not even want to go to the lake at all. It caused a lot of tension and after all.....we buy our boats to enjoy long term, and not to please as many people as we can. Finally...I told my crew....NO MORE DOGS!! Date hotter chicks or you're OUT...simple as that. Plus it was around the same time as the infamous "Boat Bun" thread...so I was pissed! Nothing makes me want to spit out my Coors Light worse than a fat,ugly chick with more arm pit hair than me bitching about how hot it is while she wipes the sweat off her mustache!!!! One of my buddies looked like a damn "before and after" photo in every pic of him and his girl! Friggin idiot!!!!

Looks like a black lab, around 8 weeks. We got a yellow a month ago, she had very bright green or blue eyes, depending on the light. They are fading a bit though at 14 weeks. She is going on the boat for the first time this weekend. I have a shop vac and can get new skins for the seats if it comes to that. Hell, i have done more damage to the seats then anyone.

She is what they call a Silver Lab. It is recessive gene in the chocolate lab. Here is a picture of what she looks like now. Kind of an unusual color, people have said that she is not a lab but a mix. They can look at the papers if they want. The real reason we got her is because her fur is the exact color of our carpet in the boat, and she is an additional 80lbs of ballast.

I am looking into getting a lab and I read earlier today that there is no such thing as a silver lab but there could be a really light chocolate lab or a mix. Since you say it is full blood then it must be a light chocolate. I don't think there is a gene for silver labs. I could be wrong though. Either way she is a nice looking dog.

Lyle...she looks like a Weimaraner to me. I've owned several labs over the years and have had all 3 common colors(black, yellow, and choc)....never seen a silver. She's pretty!

Just lost this old girl last year.....Ms. Daisy. Prettiest yellow I've ever seen, and I had the privlege of owning her for 14 years. She was a precious part of our family....loved my kids, and was a hellacious duck retriever.

Lyle, I just thought the picture was a little funny and she was a black. Beautiful dog. She kept the hazel eyes?? Our Yellow is getting alot of that foxy/apricot colored fur on her, and she has a brown nose. Regardless, she's terrific!! We are all pretty excited to get her to the lake and see her swim. It's unreal how smart these labs are. She learns commands very quickly and fetched from day one. I am rambling.

FOX, I think you might need another pup.

I love my boat and all and certainly want to keep it pristine, but I also wanna have a blast and enjoy life to the fullest, which includes having the pup along with us.

This is where we got her from http://www.silvervalleykennels.com/ It is funny if you do searches about them on the web there are all these big time dog breaders saying all gray labs should be killed because they are screwing up the gene pool. We ran into an old vet at one point and he said they have been around for a while. Apparently 'back in the day' they were called Blues, because they have blue skin. Sure enough when we checked she does.

I'll tell you what she loves the boat. Even when the crew starts showing up with their wakeboards she starts going nuts. I might try to take her on the long board with me this summer that might be kind of fun.

Flux, They keep getting smarter too. Our dog got a little infection. So we've been giving her pills in her food. On the third day she left the pill in her bowl, so we made her eat it anyway. The forth day she took the pill out of her food and put it behind her food dish. So now it is turning into a game of hide and seek. If you want a really good training book pick up Water Dog, by Walters. We've read several and it is the best. Unfortunately it doesn't say anything about teaching her to wakeboard. We have taught her though to go to bathroom before getting in the boat, wipe her feet on an old towel before getting in the boat, and "get in your seat." These have seemed to help minimize damage to the boat. Oh and if she gets to swimming off the back of the boat she knows to stand on the swim platform until she has been dried off.

I read some of that stuff about the "non pure" labs. They have those show dog standards, ours would never make it because she has some recessive stuff going on like the brown nose and the Foxy coat. Whatever the case, they are still all lab all the time and those big breeders can KMA!!

We got ours from a family, they had two females, mother and daughter, and they came into heat at the same time so they bred them both. They had 25 puppies in the cage!! It was incredible, a sea of puppies. The breeders are boat people who frequent Havasu and have three kids, so the pups were well socialized. We picked the runt with the lightest coat. She nuzzled up to me when I held her and that was that, "we'll take this one". We liked the family breeders, they did it for a bit of cash but really took amazing care of the pups, ours was paper trained when we got it home.

She's no runt anymore, I swear it's like 3 lbs a week so far and she doubled in size in from weeks 8-13. Thanks for the tip on the book, I will look it up. I may try to get her on the surfer with me this weekend, very excited.

Sucks that people have bad experiences with their dogs on the boat. We are priding ourselves to train the dog well, like Lyle did. I expect some damage, but you kind of have to think what you love more. A boat is just a vehicle for fun and your family (dogs included) and friends make all the difference in whether or not you have that fun.

One of my kids spilled red gatorade on the carpet of my brand new F250 the first weekend out. i looked at it and decided that "it was bound to happen, better now so that I can get over it and enjoy this truck without worrying too much". Since then I got a floor liner, which completely stopped a rogue latte from destroying the carpet. We will throw some towels over the seats and hope for the best with the puppy. Life is short, I can't spend time worrying too much about cosmetics, I will focus on keeping my boat running in tip top shape and everything else will take car of itself.

thats the perfect attitude to have Flux. why waste time worrying about the little things? not sure if you have read this one: Marley and Me, by John Rogan. it is a must read for all lab owners. regardless of what Lyle's dog is, it is beautiful. I would love to have a lab that color.

Yep, I am starting to chill out in my old age, or maybe just getting things right. I seriously try not to be to anal about things with the kids and the dog. These are some of my biggest joys in life, coming home from work and getting hugs and the puppy throws her self on me and licks my face. If I can't take a little bit of mess and hair and let my truck and boat take a little beating, then I really can't have these joys in life, they will all begin to resent me for being a jerk all the time.

My zero tolerance comes to safety, that's where I am a stickler. Other than that I try to clear my head of all these little things and get back to basics, just having a good time. I love our boat, but I have to draw the line on certain things. Keep her maintained and as clean as I can. Obviously I don't want it abused, but that is a matter of training. The kids get "clear" drinks on the boat, that helps. We will have to cover the seats and vacuum up hair. Oh well right?? It's a labor of love and the boat can be fixed and cleaned. I don't want to miss any of those "perfect moments" because I am freaking out over some little thing that has nothing to do with how the boat runs, performs, kicks out a monster wake, etc.

Maybe I will have to reskin some of my seats?? Yeah probably. I also need to buff out the scuffs on the hull and work on the keel, it's all scratched from beaching it and the bunks on the trailer. What I am most worried about is changing my tranny fluid, a new impeller, repacking all the trailer bearings etc etc etc.

I was a little paranoid about Sophie putting holes in the vinyl, so we found these little booties at pets mart and tried them out. They cost about twenty bucks and work great. The only problem is after a while Sophie gets restless in the boat, and true Lab from needs to be in the water swimming if theres water around. When these unannounced mad dashes to water happen all the booties come off and of course they do not float so after three sets we are left with having to come up with something else. She stays in the floor of the boat really well, we just need to put a cover on the rear seat and sun deck so she can get back and forth from the swim platform. Right now we are just using big towels. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWu44gsUq6w